Ana Lucía Jiménez Hine has had a varied and impressive career in the field of film and photography, including acting as Director of Photography for four feature films. She is the founder of the production company Filamento Films and is currently in the production stage of her debut feature documentary about jazz pianist Pibe Hine
In addition to pursuing her diverse artistic projects, she is a university professor of photography and film. Her work can be seen on her website www.analuciajimenez.com
Her newest photo exhibition Catálogo y Conjuntos can be viewed this month at F de Imagen gallery in Barrio Amón. See below for more details.
Tell us about your background in film and photography.
I’ve been enthralled by the colors and forms I find in everyday life since I can remember. I believe this stems from a profound curiosity in the way individuals and groups move about the world, as expressed by the materials objects they use, produce, discard.
Whether it´s clothing, a public street or a table set for breakfast, very ordinary situations can contain and reveal an inner logic in which colors, light, shapes and textures collide with each other and invite us to enter the image.
In college I began studying photography and Spanish Philology and watched a lot of cinema. This was in the mid 1990s, I was 22 and had already started making black and white and color reversal photography of mostly street photography.
I then applied to film school in Cuba. I had realized that film was the place where my interests converged: language, images, sounds, and the observation of our human experience. I now move seamlessly between making still or moving images, between directing and putting my eye behind the camera, as I am doing on my first feature film, a documentary about Pibe Hine. (IG: @pibe_hine_documental)
Tell us more about Pibe Hine
Pibe was a legendary jazz pianist who shook the music scene in Costa Rica from the 1960s until his death in 1993. His story is full of passion, authenticity but also transgression against social norms of the time. The film features original music by Pibe Hine and the spoken memories of his life, as told by the off-screen voices of family and friends.
I am currently in the last stages of post-production, which includes the color processes and sound design. I am starting a fundraiser to cover the expenses of these very expensive processes.
If you are interested in collaborating, please contact me alujimenez@gmail.com
Catálogo y Conjuntos is your second solo exhibition, after Fragmentos a Destiempo, back in 2005. What does this title say to us about the photography you are exhibiting?
The title refers to the classification and organization of the body of work I have amassed since I started taking photography seriously, some twenty years ago. Both of these exhibits are an exercise in classifying the work and bringing it together under themes. In Fragmentos a Destiempo the intention was to show anonymous, undetermined cityscapes to give an idea of unity beyond national frontiers.
In Catálogo and Conjuntos, I create 10 sets (“Conjuntos”) of images created in different times and places, and invite the viewer to reflect on the inner logic that ties each set together: Is it color? Is it mood? Is it the strangeness of the situations, or the physiological sensations they produce? I let the viewer come to their own conclusions.
Why go to an art gallery when you can see the work online, from home?
Our homes are too comfortable. We need to be on our feet, a bit uneasy, a bit unsettled from the newness of the gallery, perhaps even from the hassle of going to San José, for our senses to be open and shaken by that piece of art that we have chosen to come and see in a physical form. In a gallery, nothing stands between you and the framed image.
What happens there is for each viewer to experience, but it is in no way comparable to seeing an image on a tiny, illuminated screen that scrolls endlessly.
When and where can we visit the exhibition?
- F de imagen
- Thursdays and Fridays from 1 to 5pm.
- Guided visits on Saturday, May 13th and Saturday June 3rd, from 10am to 1pm.
- The exhibit will also be part of the upcoming Art City Tour, on May 18th.
- The gallery is in Barrio Amón and can be found through Waze or Google Maps.
